Carolyn Hitt: True fans must endure the lows to enjoy Wales' highs

Two matches in to Wales’ autumn campaign and we’re back in the dip of the rugby rollercoaster.

Two matches in to Wales’ autumn campaign and we’re back in the dip of the rugby rollercoaster.

Not that every fan has lost their sense of humour as the Grand Slam express has swooped to the bottom of the track. When it looked all over for Wales in the second half of the Argentina match, supporters in the south stand just behind the try line applauded a small rodent spotted scampering in the grass.

As Wales floundered to their first defeat to the Pumas on home soil since 2001, a wag in the crowd shouted: “Give it to the mouse!”

Fast forward six days and Wales didn’t want it to be a case of mice and men when Samoa’s muscle-bound behemoths arrived in town. But they were caught cat-napping within 90 seconds of the kick-off as the Pacific islanders scored a try so neatly it looked like a training exercise.

Samoa would add another two tries while Wales, who had failed to cross the whitewash against Argentina, could only manage that least creative of scores – an interception.

Wales also seem destined to lose at least one Osprey per match. Alun Wyn Jones was wiped out for the rest of the season in the opening game.

Friday saw Richard Hibbard crocked by a huge hit and Dan Biggar clattered out of a ruck with such brutal force it must have been a quandary for the medics to know which part of his body to attend to first.

The closing moments of the game brought a scene we haven’t witnessed at the Millennium for quite some time – the 76th minute exit of the Shaking Head Brigade.

These are the supporters who express the intensity of their disappointment with exaggerated upper body movements and facial grimaces. I knew a few of these who left the 2010 Scotland match and missed Wales actually winning.

But there was no chance of the Lazarus scenario this time. It was almost cruel that Halfpenny of all people was the poor player who failed to prevent Samoa’s match-sealing score. With his 14-point haul, the full-back couldn’t have given more to the Welsh cause.

Yet Samoa were worthy victors. And the final whistle resurrected another unwelcome stadium phenomenon we thought we’d left behind. At half time we enjoyed Only Boys Aloud. At full time it was Only Boos Aloud.

Those who did stay beyond the trophy presentation were given a closer look at why Samoa present such a rib-crunching challenge.

In celebration of what their team manager called an “historic” win, the players stripped to the waist and performed an impromptu haka. Clothing their intricately tattooed muscle in the Samoan uniform of shirt and lava lava skirt, they later serenaded their Welsh hosts with a traditional song.

Dignified and respectful in victory, they were also naturally thrilled. Pat Lam, who captained Samoa to their last triumph in Cardiff, is now the team’s technical adviser. But his formula for success on Saturday was pretty simple.

“We did our homework just like Argentina did,” he told me. “We knew if we targeted Wales’s scrum and lineout and kept chopping down their big fellas we would win.”

If opponents have found Wales so straightforward to unpick this autumn, players and fans alike are bewildered why the side seems a shadow of its Grand Slam-winning self. Ryan Jones echoed the mindset of the nation when he left the field admitting: “I’m not really sure where to start.”

Where has the power, purpose and panache gone? Where is the style, speed and swagger? Where is the creativity and confidence? And what has happened to a defence that under the direction of Shaun Edwards had almost mythic status?

There’s not much time to restore all those qualities with the best team on the planet arriving this Saturday. But if there’s one thing that won’t help Wales at the moment, it’s hurling vitriol at them. Confidence has to return before anything else can follow.

Over the weekend, Jez Warburton – father of Sam – tweeted his sadness that his daughter had to close down her Twitter account because of the “abuse her brother’s team were getting”.

Social media can be a forum for the most cowardly form of criticism and unlike players of previous generations, today’s internationals can be bombarded with insults directly via the internet.

However disappointing these losses have felt the true fan has to endure the lows of the Welsh rugby rollercoaster as well as enjoying the adrenaline rush of the heights.

Pat Lam has observed Wales as closely as anyone in recent weeks and he is positive on their potential for recovery. “No-one is going to give them (Wales) a chance whatsoever, and rightly so, because New Zealand are number one and Wales have lost the last few games,” Lam said.

“But that is the challenge of rugby and sport. You are up against it, but you never write off any team.”

So let’s just hope we won’t be shouting “Give it to the mouse!” on Saturday – because Wales will be too busy roaring on the field.

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